IT shows how bad things have been in recent weeks that I was happy to come home with a point from our trip to bottom-placed Darlington.

The slump in performances on the pitch from the fantastic form on show earlier in the season is a mystery to all Stanley fans.

It is very hard to believe that a keeper who would stop a steam train before March now looks so lacking in confidence that you wince every time a defender hits a back pass.

The defence, which was solid and miserly during our fantastic run, now looks edgy and ill at ease on the ball.

Our central players commanded the midfield with such ease and panache that even the most die-hard sceptic was dribbling into his Bovril.

Our front men were on fire and rumours abound that several clubs have been sniffing around to steal a bargain striker.

As regular readers will note I am very seldom critical of individual players and I truly believe in getting behind my team 100 per cent of the time and although I have detailed our current plight above I am not about to change my tune now.

You see the players we have ARE good enough to gain promotion and we have beaten some cracking sides this year by playing some of the best football ever witnessed at the Crown Ground.

Due to our off the field plight earlier this year and our great cup runs, we have played a massive number of games and as Jimmy Bell said a few weeks back we needed to strengthen our squad to stand any chance of the play-offs.

We must look to next season and sign up the players out of contract, while making tentative enquires about players who can add something to our squad.